Maiths Trin: The expansion of civilization.

Adventure at the edge of Civilization.

Downtimes

There are times between adventures, when you need to copy those scrolls you’ve found, or get to know that princess you just rescued (if you know what I mean), or just spend all those hard-earned gold pieces in a drinking contest to end all drinking contests. Day, weeks, or even months can pass between moments, as characters deal with personal issues (travel home to grandma, to bring her some moon radishes to bake you a pie).

These sorts of side adventures will let you become more invested in the role-playing experience, because you can’t spend every waking hour of every day of every frelling year slaying goblins and counting their ears for bounty. Besides, carousing is good for the soul.

It should be remembered that with great power also comes great responsibility. Not only do you become more powerful, but you also become more influential and invested in the politics of villages, kingdoms and the gods. You might be inclined to build a tower fort on that border where the Waterthorn’s goblin minions are constantly slipping through and slaughtering your tenant’s herds. You might want to spend a little time at court, trying to convince High-Lord Seregul that granting you those three villages recently ceded in the last war, might be best for the Free-City of Crebain, since you would look after them personally and bring their valuable iron ores directly to his capital. Whereas days or weeks might pass in the early levels, months or even years could pass as characters get older, wiser and higher in the realms of influence and power.

So keep in mind, that there are many things that could be done. Building a castle, or crafting a magic item, or just plain carousing and gaining renown on the gaming tables. Running your guild, your kingdom, or your newly founded clan can take time and effort, particularly if you want it to matter and have lasting influence in the world. These are the moments you’ll remember; these are the role-playing experiences that matter.

We are in a role-playing game, right?

The Cost of Living
When not descending into the depths of the earth, exploring ruins for lost treasures, or waging war against implacable darkness, adventurers face a far more mundane reality. Even in the Dominions, people require basic necessities such as shelter, sustenance, and clothing. These things cost money, although some lifestyle choices require more than others.

Living in towns can be a costly venture. The price of even basic necessities can be high, and luxuries even higher. For most typical items, the standard cost expense in the PHB (Chapter 5 : Equipment) is assumed to be in effect, unless previously determined that some items, due to shortages, are higher, or possibly lower (due to a market overage).

Owning and Renting Property
Most people who live in towns do not own their houses or shops, they rent them. Wealthy merchants and nobles own most residential properties. Even in rural villages, most peasants are “Cottars”, who pay a rent for the right to farm and use the Lord’s cottage, who also employs them to harvest his orchards and fields, and perform maintenance on his fences and bridges. In urban settings, rents can run from 5 sp (per month) for a single room flat in a cheap tenement, to 50 sp (per month) for a four-room suite on the upper level of a good tenement. Houses rent from 30 sp (per month) for a small 20′×30′ house, through _100 sp (per month) for a a medium-sized house with two or three rooms, to 500 sp (per moth) or more for a large two- or three-level stone townhouse with a stable and small kitchen garden. Particularly cheap or wealthy neighborhoods can run from half this to more than five times this cost, but each brings its own issues, sometimes literally, to the table.

Lucky individuals, usually former adventurers or successful craftsmen, inherit their properties from former masters or family. Typical houses can range from 500 gp to upwards of 500,00 gp, with the lower end being small crofts on the edge of town, or suite of apartments in a poor tenement, to a multi-level walled estate house in the wealthy noble’s district, complete with barracks, stables, gardens and a handful of workshops.

In some parts of town, often referred to as “The Warrens”, exact ownership of property is always questionable, not the least reasoning of which, is that the “house” is little more than a timber structure occupying what was once a back alley, or a series of one-room hovels carved under a masonry bridge.

Most residents of towns live in the same district in which they work, but that is not always the case. Shopkeepers who live above their workshop may either rent or own the property and its building.

Services
Adventurers can pay NPCs to assist them or act on their behalf in variety of circumstances. Most such hirelings have fairly ordinary skills, while others are masters of a craft or art, and a few are experts with specialized adventuring skills. Any task requiring a proficiency (weapons, skills or tools), such as soldiers, craftsmen, or scribes, and is considered skilled; any task requiring menial work, such as laborers, maids, or porters are considered unskilled.

Some of the most basic types of hirelings in demand, include metal smiths, wood crafters, and weapon crafters, typically found in towns and even small villages. Wizards might need a carpenter to craft them an elaborate chest and its miniature replica for use in a Leomund’s Secret Chest spell, or a fighter might commission a weaponsmith to craft a special silvered sword for his intended delve into the werewolf den suspected in the nearby mountains. These sorts of small transactions represent an important crafting for the hireling, and will take some time for them to accomplish, so prices can be high, but if the money is right, they’ll happily comply.

Other hirelings require a more expert and specialist form of services. Mercenary soldiers are paid to help adventurers take important tactical locations, or help defend their recently acquired castle. Mages might be consulted to research the location of Warphit the Mad’s location in the Ethereal Plane. Possession of a town estate or castle will bring its own host of hireling demands. including servants, bailiffs, craftsmen and soldiers. These sorts of hirelings will be hired on a long-term basis, that often includes lodging and food in the arrangement.

The last form of service is usually only available in larger communities, and includes messenger, coach and caravan/fleet passage. These services are usually available on a fairly immediate basis, though the last one requires some planning and preparation, and is dependent upon restricted availability. If the trade winds aren’t blowing for two months, and there are no ships in port, you’re not going to be able to inform the Amir of Tashan that the pirate fleet is planning an attack.

Upkeep Costs
A simple means of covering the daily grind of expenditure, is to assign oneself a level of lifestyle, and simply pay a basic cost in gold. This represents replacing clothing burnt when you fought Dragon Lord Verminthrax, or those boots hacked to bits by the pit traps of Howling Winds Dungeon. It explains away accommodations, food. drink, clothing, and other common items, and assumes many of the common expenses for things we deal with on a daily basis. It does not include replacement adventuring gear, magic items, bribes and other matters requiring role-playing or demonstrably rare.

At the start of each month, (Day 1 of every calendar month), characters are assumed to be living a specific lifestyle of their choice, determined through previous role-playing efforts. This money is assumed to be paid for by either yourself directly, or any servants hired to look after your belongings and goods in a residence, and is also assumed to be spent throughout the month, as goods are needed and available.

Upkeep costs are determined by the players, and each lifestyle choice assumes a bucolic series of events leading to its presence in one’s life. Hiring or replacing new staff, acquiring new furnishings or clothing, and getting the straps replaced on your armor all take time and effort between adventures. Acquiring water for a bath, choosing food for the next couple days to restock your larder; these are the things of domestic life that take time and effort.

Furthermore, lifestyle choices cannot drastically change from month to month. One cannot move from a palatial townhouse one month to living in the streets the next month, and then back to a new townhouse, without dramatically altering your reputation, social standing, besides proving nearly impossible. There are not a lot of open townhouses waiting for would-be nobility, nor are adventurers likely to remain unmolested and disease free living in a squalid alley under a tarp. Choose a lifestyle that makes sense and stay with it until your fortunes grant you a means to move up.

Adventurers will possess cash that the common man has no concept of. Therefore, it is assumed they will live in modest to wealthy lifestyles, until such time as they acquire their own holdings, properties and castles, particularly if they intend to impress the local merchants and nobility and gain their sponsorship in defeating a goblin horde preparing to raid the outer farms of the local barony. It’s hard to do these things if you smell of fish and have wine stains on your ragged cloak. Other lifestyles are included for reference.

Subsistence (20 sp) : This amount of money is keeping you barely alive. It assumes living in a cheap apartment, likely rooming with others, such as laborers or your fellow poor, who likely covet your possessions. Unless you have access to free food, all you eat are boiled turnips, bone broth and sometimes coarse bread. You never eat in taverns, and have no luxuries. You wear shabby, filthy clothing (likely heavily patched and in need of mending), and rarely bathe. Violence, disease and hunger follow you wherever you go. You are beneath the notice of most other people.

Wretched (50 sp) : This is the lifestyle of the average unskilled laborer, street peddlar, independent thief, or guild thug in town. You live in a one-room apartment, eat poorly, and drink only thin, watery small ale at low-cost taverns. You probably can afford one new set of clothing each year, so what you wear is tattered, patched and stained. Most people at this level deal with disease, hunger, and misfortune on a daily basis, and is still a desperate and often violent environment.

Poor (100 sp) : You live comfortably, but completely without luxury. This is the income of soldiers or laborers with families, guild apprentices, wandering priests, and hedge wizards. Meals are simple, but you don’t go hungry, and can afford a mug or two of ale regularly. Your clothing is simple, but not shabby or dirty. You still have to deal with violence, crime and disease, but there are some legal protections.

Modest (200 sp) : This is the “middle-class” lifestyle of a typical craftsman, mercenary soldiers, and laborers with extended families. You have a decent place to live, perhaps even with more than one room. You eat fairly well, occasionally at a good tavern. You can afford to indulge in extravagances like a decent wine or the occasional new set of clothing or even small piece of bronze or copper jewelry.

Comfortable (500 sp) : This is the lifestyle of merchants, skilled tradesmen and mercenary officers. You live very well. You rent a house or a multi-room suite in a good tenement on the edge of the Noble’s Quarter, and dine on quality food with every meal. You can adopt an expensive habit, like fine wines, perfumes, gambling, or fancy clothing, but you still must be mindful of your expenses. You likely have a personal servant or two.

Wealthy (1000 sp) : This is the lifestyle of a highly successful merchant, a favored official of the local court, or the owner of a few small businesses and tenements. You live in a large house with expensive furniture and good sheets on the beds. You eat fine foods, drink quality ales and wines, and wear fashionable clothing. Perfume, jewelry, and expensive pipe weed are just some of the luxuries you can afford. You likely have a small staff of personal servants.

Aristocratic (5000 sp) : You are a person of influence and power in your local community, and a regular at important social events, and even at court. If you see something you want, you buy it. No extravagance is too great. You take every meal at a fine fest-hall or an elegant tavern. Your wardrobes overflow with articles of expensive clothing, and you wear jewelry and high-priced colognes at all times. You certainly employ a staff of personal servants and guards that look after your possessions and home, which is likely in the Noble’s Quarter.

Spellcasting
While people who are able to cast spells fall under the skilled label of a hireling, they are not a typical hireling for the simple reason that their services are based on their spells, not their skills. Finding either a mage or a cleric willing to cast spells in exchange for something simple like coins or favors is difficult, simply because there is no set rate for these sorts of services. While some mage’s guilds might have a standard level of payment they suggest, the decision is still in the hands of the individual person of power and their own needs or wants. As a general rule of thumb, the higher level the spell, the more difficult it is to locate a person willing to cast it, and the more it is going to cost.

Hiring someone to cast a simple 1st or 2nd level spell, such as Cure Light Wounds or Identify, is easy enough in a town or city like Maiths Tirn, and could cost between 100 to 500 sp, plus the costs of any components used in the casting. Finding someone to cast something more powerful, might require travel to A proper City, or perhaps an isolated monastery in the wilderness, where they have an exclusive control over a certain spell or other ritual. Once located, the caster might demand more than just coins for the service; usually a demand for the retrieval of a lost relic, or some other service may be required for the casting. Especially rare spells also require especially rare components, and might require a quest to find or retrieve one first, before the ritual can be cast.

Activities
Between trips to dungeons and battles against ancient evils, adventurers take time to rest, recuperate, and prepare for their next adventure. Many adventurers also use this time to perform other tasks, such as crafting arms and armor, performing research, or spending their hard-earned gold.

It is assumed that at least eight (8) hours of each day is spent in some sort of downtime activity, to count towards completion of any tasks. These days do not need to be consecutive. If you have more days available than you need to accomplish the task, you can switch to another task on your list upon completion, or continue the task for a longer period of time to grant you a benefit to the task.

This list is by no means complete. Other items, such as improving one’s stronghold, or establishing a trade road across the mountains, or investing in the markets area ll things that can be done during downtime. The only limit is the player’s own imagination, and the abilities of their characters.

Building a Stronghold : Before work on a stronghold can begin, one must acquire a plot of land. Crown Charters are generally required if the land in question lies within the disputed territory of an established realm. These documents grant specific individuals the right to oversee an estate in the name of the crown, and usually grant them a recognized title, such as the Lord of Butterworth. They are usually granted to individuals seeking to build a new fortress in disputed territory that the Crown seeks to conquer and claim. Crown Grants are legal documents granting existing territorial lands and associated communities to an individual for their custody in the Crown’s name. These documents usually grant a minor title, typically a knighthood (or Sir Butterworth), and the custody of one or more small communities to support a minor stronghold, such as a tower fort. Crown Deeds are simple possession documents serving as proof of ownership of a portion of land, a shop, or house in the name of the crown, and do not confer any titles.

Most Crown Charters and Crown Grants are granted by the Crown as a reward for dutiful and thoughtful service in their name, but can also be purchased, though such rights are rarely made available and often ruinous to acquire. Crown Deeds are often inherited, but can also be purchased fairly easily, often from others seeking cash for investment or improvement of other properties in their control. Small properties can sell for as little as 1000 sp to as much as 10,000 sp. Large estates (or farms) might cost 50,000 sp or more, if they’re available at all.

Once estate land is secured, one requires access to materials and labor. If adventurers spend their downtime overseeing construction of their future homes, the costs remain unchanged. If, however, they adventure or spend time away from the project, things tend to slow down appreciably, and a character’s absence can lead to cost over-runs. Furthermore, having appropriate skills in tools and training required (such as having Intelligence (Investigation) trained), can lead to an advantage on unusual rolls, or building secrets known only to the character, such as a secret treasure vault, or a passage leading out of the stronghold. Prices for strongholds range from 50,000 sp for a townhouse or a guild hall taking two to three (2-3) months for completion, to 5 million sp for a large castle, that could take four to five years to complete.

Carousing : Adventurers can spend their downtime engaged in a wide variety of hedonistic activities, such as crashing important social events, binge drinking in dive bars, gambling, or any other activity that helps them cope with the perils of their life and death struggles as adventurers.

Carousing adventurers are assumed to spend money during their downtime as though Wealthy (1000 sp per month). At the end of the month, there are reprocussions to their activities, usually in improving their contacts, but also leading to debt.

Construct Buildings : Downtime can be spent upgrading or constructing buildings of a more mundane status than a fortress or stronghold. These buildings include temples, guildhalls or even simple things like a tavern or a smithy. How much each building costs varies on its size and eventual purposes, but is also dependent upon the size of the community and its available resources. Once the building is complete, it may be employed immediately for its primary purposes. This may include crafting items, or earning an income by “Running a Business”.

Crafting Magic Items : Creation of magic items is generally speaking a lengthy, expensive task. To start, adventurers must have a formula that describes how to craft the item in question. The adventurer must also either be a spell-caster with the appropriate access to spell slots and be able to cast the appropriate spells in question, or must be able to hire someone to do the task for them. Moreover, they must be able to match the item’s minimum level requirement for its rarity; for example, a Wand of Magic Missiles is considered an Uncommon Item, requiring a 3rd-level spellcaster able to cast Magic Missile. The same spell-caster could make a Battleaxe +1, an Uncommon Item, wiht no required spell to be cast.

Specific material components vary widely, and there are basic alchemical components that must be acquired for construction to proceed. Flame Tongue blades, for example might require rubies as the main part of its alchemical requirements, as well as being forged in the fires of a living volcano. Potions of Healing, relatively common alchemical items, have a wide variety of recipes developed by many different craftsmen, but always have that “secret ingredient”, such as troll’s blood, or ground jade, that makes them prohibitively expensive to the common man.

Crafting magic proceeds at a rate of 250-sp per day increments, assuming eight (8) hours of every day is spent on the task. Thus, it would take two (2) days to craft a Potion of Healing, and cost roughly 250 sp worth of materials. The previously mentioned Wand of Magic Missiles, as an Uncommon Item, would take 20 days, and cost 5000 sp, a part of which would be specific materials required by its formula, such as iron filings and a minotaur’s horn.

Multiple characters may assist in the crafting of an item, provided they are able to provide spells, spell slots, and components, and must participate during the entire crafting process. Each character brings an additional 250 sp worth of effort for each day spent helping in the crafting.

Crafting Mundane Items : You can craft non-magical objects, including adventuring equipment and works of art. You must have the appropriate proficiency with tools related to the object you are trying to make (typically artisans tools). You will also likely need access to a workshop or other special materials to finish the task, such as a forge or a clothier’s shop.

For every day of downtime you spend crafting, you can make one or more items with a total market value of 50 sp, and must spend one-half that total in materials. If you try to craft something worth more than 50 sp, you can craft it in 50-sp increments until the market value has been reached. For example, a suit of plate armor (market value 1500 gp) takes 300 days to craft and costs 7500 sp in materials of leather, raw iron and cloth.

Multiple characters can combine efforts towards a given task, provided they both have appropriate proficiency, and access to the appropriate tools for the task, as well as sharing the same location. Each character contributes a 50-sp worth of effort to the task each day. For example, three characters with the appropriate tools and tool requisite proficiency can craft the same suit of plate armor in 100 days, and a total cost of 7500 sp.

Gaining Renown : Spending downtime to improve one’s reputation within a given guild or other organization, such as a thieves’ guild, can undertake minor tasks and socialize with its members. After pursuing these tasks for a number of days equal to their existing renown multiplied by ten, their renown can increase one (1) point.

Gather Information : By spending a day of downtime, one can thoroughly converse with several knowledgeable individuals and reliable contacts over the course of the day. You may attempt up to three Intelligence (Investigation) checks to gather information. These checks can be for the same or different subjects, and one of the rolls can be expended to re-roll a check failed during this activity.

Heal Others : One can use downtime to help others rest and recover using the Wisdom (Medicine) skill. For long-term care, treating wounds and diseases, you can spend your day(s) assisting others in getting better, granting a bonus (+2) on recuperating from a disease or poisoned status. One can care for up to six (6) others each day.

Performing Sacred Rites : A pious adventurer can spend their downtime performing sacred rites in their local temple, or in their own established holy place. Between these rites, it is assumed their time is spent in prayers, devotions and service among the community. These rites can include weddings, funerals, and acolyte ordinations. Laypersons, or non-priests, can assist priests in these rites and prayers.

An adventurer who spends at least one (1) ten-day performing sacred rites, gains one (1) Inspiration Point at the start of each day over the next ten-day to be spent in other tasks they might wish or be involved in.

Practicing a Profession : Adventurers can work between adventures, allowing them to maintain themselves at a modest lifestyle without having to pay anything. This benefit lasts as long as you continue to spend the requisite amount of time practicing your profession.

A member of a specific guild that can provide gainful employment, or is a member of a noted religious order or a mage’s guild, is assumed to be able to support a comfortable lifestyle instead. A proficiency in the Charisma (Performance) skill, and the ability to employ it during downtime, is able to support themselves at the wealthy lifestyle level instead.

Promote a Business : One can spend a day of downtime to increase interest in a business, temple, organization, or other local fixture. If you wish to promote a bakery, spending coin on goods to give free bread to the local people in town, or placing notices about town, or spending time with the local lord to get them to publically endorse the facility are all ways in which one can influence the business efforts, and require different expenses and skill checks. The means employed can not be duplicated again in the same season.

This promotion increases business over the next ten-day, and requires a successful check for the appropriate skill used, such as a Charisma (Persuasion) check to influence the baron, or Wisdom (Insight) to determine the best form of free bread to give away. If promoting an organization without access to an appropriate physical building, makes the effort have disadvantage, as there is no focus for the effort. It’s harder to promote something that doesn’t seem to have a place in society. For example, trying to gain support for the local fey, is made more difficult since they don’t live in town, and likely don’t have a center of “Fey Rights”.

The business or organization promoted during downtime, does not have to be owned by the character. If the building or organization does not normally generate an income, such as an orphanage, it can do so as a result of the effort.

Recruit for an Organization : One can create and recruit for an organization that doesn’t rely on a specific building. For example, one might want to recruit minions if you’re a rogue and want to start your own gang of cutpurses or a cleric who wants to start their own cult of followers. An organization can be built from existing teams of personnel previously recruited, so that one can build an organization to the taste of all concerned. Depending on the community in question, the amount of time and wealth spent in the effort varies, but upon completion, the organization or team built is considered complete and can work immediately.

Recuperating : You can use your downtime between adventures to recover from debilitating injury, disease, or poison. After three (3) days of downtime spent recuperating, you can make a DC (15) Constitution saving throw. On a successful save, you may choose one of the following results;

A – End one effect that prevents you from regaining hit points.
B – For the next 24 hours, gain advantage on saving throws against one disease or poison currently affecting you.

Researching : The time between adventures is a great chance to perform research, gaining insight into mysteries that have unfurled over the course of the campaign. Research can include poring over dusty tomes and crumbling scrolls in a library or buying drinks for the locals to pry rumors and gossip from their lips.

When you begin research, you will be told whether or not the information is available, how many days of downtime it will take to find it, and whether there are any restrictions on the research (such as requiring a specific key text, sage or location). There will usually be a specific skill proficiency check involved, typically either Intelligence (Investigation) or Charisma (Persuasion). These checks will either discover the clues needed to conduct the research, or convince someone’s aid to find it. Once these provisions are secured, you learn the information if it is available.

The costs of research are typically 10 sp per day to cover these special expenses.

Retraining Feats : You can change one Feat for another through retraining during downtime. Retraining a feat takes five (5) days with a character who has the Feat you seek. The old Feat can’t be one required for an existing feat, class feature, or other ability. If the old feat is a class feature, you must replace the entire series of Class features, by following a new path. Such retraining simply takes time, a trainer, and can occur as often as desired.

Retraining Hit Points takes three days of Downtime, and requires access to a martial academy or monastery of some martial order, or a master of combat who is at least one level higher than yourself. At the end of the period, you increase your maximum hit points by one (1). You can retrain hit points only if your maximum allowed hit points total is less than the maximum possible hit points total for your character’s chosen classes.

For example, you are a 5th level Fighter, with a Constitution 14 and no other special abilities; your maximum hit point total is 60. If your maximum hit point total is already 60 HP, you cannot train to increase this total, because you already have the maximum allowed. If you took the Tough Feat, this total would increase to 70, thus increasing your maximum total to 70, which means the maximum would remain 70 without allowing to train further.

Running a Business : Adventurers often wind up owning businesses or other properties, such as castles, none of which directly have anything to do with saving the world or exploring the Lower Planes. One could inherit a smithy or some farmland, or the rights to control a fortress and several villages, and feel obliged to spend their downtime maintaining the venture and ensuring it runs smoothly.

The results of this effort have long-ranging effects on the adventurer’s world; granting access to craftsmen not usually available, or resources not commonly found on the market, and often bring access to contacts, research facilities and markets for the sale of their salvaged treasures. They also have a chance to bring in a little coin to allow one to improve their lifestyle. They can also provide a safe place to store valuables or craft items.

Scheme for an Upcoming Adventure : Downtime can be used to prepare for an upcoming adventure or event. For example, if you know you have to attend a fancy ball at the baron’s castle in two days, you can spend those days watching the baron’s manor, investigating what clothes the participants are expected to wear, and discover who is intending to attend. If one’s approach to the effort is deemed appropriate, it can grant a +2 assistance bonus in other rolls for the event, such as a Charisma check to “blend into the crowd”, or a Charisma (Performance) roll to delight the audience, or a Charisma (Deception) roll to disguise a team of assassins as servants. A separate day must be spent to gain assistance on every separate roll.

Selling Magic Items : Few can afford the relics and artifacts adventurers wrest from ruins and dungeons, and fewer still know how to find one. Adventurers are the exception to this, in regard to the nature of their career.

Downtime can be spent trying to search for a buyer for any magic item they own, from Common to Rare, but must be conducted in a city or other location that has wealthy enough patrons to be interested in such things. Priceless artifacts and unique magic items cannot be sold during downtime. Finding such an interested buyer is the substance of its own adventure.

A basic DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check is required to find buyers for any item. Another character can assist in this endeavor, granting advantage on the roll. A failure results in no buyer being interested after a ten-day search. On a successful check, a buyer is found after a certain number of days, based on its rarity. Buyers for multiple items can be searched for at once, although this requires individual rolls for each item on the list.

Buyers sometimes procure rare and very rare items through proxies and merchants to ensure their identity remains unknown. If a buyer seems shady, one should recognize that the adventurer’s reputation is on the line; “Wasn’t this the ‘Dread Black Blade of Angor’ used in the murder of the mayor, the one you pulled from the treasure horde of the ‘Smashfist Ogres’, and used last year during the Goblin Wars?”.

Sowing Rumors : Swaying public opinion can be an effective means to bring down a villain or elevate a friend. Spreading rumors is an effective, if under-handed, way to accomplish that goal. Well-placed rumors can increase the subject’s or organization’s standing in a community, or embroil them in scandals. A rumor, however, needs to be a simple, concrete, and hard to disprove idea. An effective rumor has to play off what the public want to believe about the person in question.

Sowing such rumors requires a number of days depending on the size of the community in question; roughly a ten-day for a village, or a month for a city. The time spent must be continuous. If an adventurer spends a ten-day talking about how great Tomas the Necromancer is, then goes off to clear the bandit hold at Skullport for three days, he would need to start over again, because the rumor faded away without the constant repetition required before it could develop.

It costs 10 sp per day to spread the rumor, which covers the costs of ale, social appearances, lost money in back alley dicing games, and other expenses. At the end of the rumor’s spreading, a (DC 15) Charisma (Deception or Persuasion) check is made. If successful the community’s prevailing attitude towards the subject shifts one step towards either friendly or hostile, depending on the intent of the rumor. If it fails, the rumor never gained the traction necessary to propagate, and fails.

Shifting a community’s general attitude towards a person or an organization doesn’t affect everyone in the community. Individuals hold their own opinions, particularly if they have personal experiences in dealing with the subject of the rumors. It’s hard, for example, to convince the personal maid of the queen that Queen’s evil, when the maid is with her day in and day out.

Spells Known : Spontaneous spellcasters (such as sorcerers, or bards) can retrain known spells. This retraining takes two (2) days per spell level of the new spell (or one day in the case of a cantrip), and requires a trainer who can cast the spell you want. The trainer must have access to the same type of spells as you do (arcane versus divine).

The spell with which you’re replacing the previous spell must be another from your class spell list. The new spell must be one you could place in the old spell’s spell slot. Note that this retraining is unrelated to learning a new spell in place of an old one at certain class levels (like a warlock). These are class abilities, occur instantly with the new level, and have no other cost affiliated with them. Retraining a spell requires time, a trainer and can happen as often as one wishes.

Train an Animal : One can use their Wisdom (Animal Training) skill to train an animal. While it is assumed that the training period is continuous, however, it can be broken into smaller increments (allowing progress to continue between adventures), but a check must be made during each downtime period, and the DC increases by 2 for each check.

Teach an Animal a Trick : Requires a ten-day and a successful Wisdom (Animal Handling) check at the end of the training period. Tricks include giving its owner support in one activity, such as aiding in one of the following ability checks; Charisma (Intimidation), Intelligence (Investigation), or Wisdom (Perception). When using an animal in this manner, you gain proficiency in the given skill (even if not trained), and advantage when so assisted. If you have skill trained, you gain double your proficiency bonus.

Teach an Animal to Fight : Requires a ten-day and a successful Wisdom (Animal Handling) check at the end of the training period. Animals can be then be given the ability to Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge or Help without requiring an action from its owner. Each skill requires a separate Downtime period to train.
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Train an Animal for a General Purpose :_ This sort of training can take several weeks, depending on the nature of the training, but takes an untrained animal to trained status to make a mount capable of wearing barding, or pull a wagon, or other purpose.

Rear a Wild Animal : Depending on the maturation rate of the animal, this can take from months to years. It is assumed the animal is interacted with for one hour each day, and at the end of the maturity period a roll can be made. This does not require any downtime. An interruption in this training, however, requires a day of downtime to continue training, along with a successful Wisdom (Animal Handling) check. It is assumed, that an non-expert has been assigned to help raise the animal in your absence. At the end of the rearing period, the animal is considered domesticated.

Training : One can spend time between adventures learning a language or training to learn a new set of proficiency skill tools. These new languages or skills do not count against the maximum number allowed by race or class. However, one may only learn an additional number of skills or languages this way equal to 1+INT bonus.

First, you must find an instructor willing to teach you. The time required finding such a hireling can vary, and may require one or more ability checks (such as Charisma (Persuasion) or Intelligence (Investigation) ) to uncover. Training lasts for a number of days (depending on the language or proficiency), and can cost 10 sp per day. After the requisite amount of time and money is spent, it is assumed the adventurer has learned the new language or gained proficiency in a new set of tools.

Training times depend greatly upon the specific proficiency being learned, and take from a month (for tools such as agriculture, brewing or mining tools), to 2-3 months (for a complex proficiency such as jewelcraft, metalcraft or ceramics) to six months (for alchemy, piloting or weaponscraft). Languages almost universally require one month.